Czech & Mate

Christine and I decided to enjoy another day in Vienna and enjoy a few more sights and in particular some musical performances. The fact that we had such a nice place to stay certainly helped in the decision making and Christine was pretty jazzed from the previous nights performance of The Magic Flute (I also thought it was a wonderful performance).

We spent a bit of the day wandering through Vienna and then took in a late afternoon show of the Vienna Boys Choir. They have these incredibly angelic voices, so pure and sweet. Dressed in little sailor costumes, they are quite the group of performers. The first half of the show was purely acapella, and they performed a variety of old and newer songs. The acapella allowed them to showcase how well they can harmonize with each other. The second half of the performance brought on a small orchestral group to provide music and a male adult choir to join the boys. We were wondering if the adult choir was maybe made up of former Vienna Boys Choir performers, since we don’t know what happens to the kids after their voices change (they do have all that musical training). This part of the show featured very old, traditional songs that were beautiful to listen to, and perhaps the fact that we didn’t speak the language added a great deal to the enjoyment of the performance. There were two of the older boys in particular that had huge solo pieces and they blew us both away with how talented they were, the power behind their singing was incredible. We left the show feeling like it was yet another highlight of Vienna and the trip itself. (Left - the Vienna Boys Choir)

Since we were in the city of music, Christine was trying to soak up as much of the culture as possible, allowing her to engage all of her musical training and education. Not wasting a moment, we zipped straight from the choir over to the National Opera House to see if we could get standing tickets for the evening performance of Pique Dame, a Russian Opera by Tchaikovsky. We had taken a tour of the opera house the day before and it is quite the performance structure. We arrived in time to gather our 3 Euro tickets, that’s right, if you are willing to stand for 3 hours, you can get a ticket for about $5 Canadian. We took our spot on the very upper balcony for the show, and were pleased to see that the translators attached to the seats were also offered to the standing area visitors. This allowed us to enjoy the performance with English on the monitor, so we weren’t completely lost. This was especially helpful since, unlike with the Magic Flute, we had not read the different scenes and acts of this play. The performance was very well done, and the opera singers voices could reach all the way to the top and back of the concert hall. Pique Dame is not considered one of the best shows to see at the opera, however, the Vienna Philharmonic Symphony was doing the musical portion of the performance and Christine really wanted to see them play. Unfortunately, about a third of the way through the show, Christine felt really sick, and we had to head back to the hostel. Thankfully her illness only lasted for about 12-15 hours, but sadly during the performance. At least we didn’t have expensive seats. (Right - the State Opera House in Vienna)

Schnitzel. Now Schnitzel was not the cause of Christine roiling stomach, but it has been a dish that we have enjoyed along the way across Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany. Schnitzel appears in every restaurant, and varies in price and serving style. My personal favourite is the Schnitzel sandwich, that costs about $3 Canadian and tastes like an awesome chicken burger with all the fixings. The serving portions in this neck of the world are quite large, loaded with grease and fat, and absolutely delicious.

After leaving Vienna, we drove the short distance to Prague, a city both of us were very keen to see. Prague suffered almost no damage in WWII, and is a very free flowing city, with winding alleys, beautiful old architecture and a very rich history. I have always wanted to visit Prague since meeting a very dear friend of mine almost ten years ago, Jonathan. Jonathan has always been singing the praises of Prague, a city that he has visited no less than 5 different times. The source of this interest is his dear Uncle William who has lived in Prague for almost 20 years. Jonathan mentioned on many occasions the wonderful tour that his uncle gives of Prague, and sometimes I thought he was laying it on a bit thick. (Left - the cathedral in Prague)

Christine and I spent the first afternoon and evening in Prague wandering the streets and taking in the sights. We were very fortunate to meet up with William and his darling wife Dasha in Prague for the very tour Jonathan spoke of on our second day. I am now happy to say that there is no embellishment in the telling of Williams tour of the city. Christine and I have visited many many cities over the last 6 weeks, but William brought Prague alive for us in a way that none other can compare. The four of us spent the entire day wandering the streets of the old city, while Christine and I learned of history, the architecture, the culture and the people that make up this wonderful old city. William normally does the tour solo, but we were fortunate to have Dasha along this time, she added a lovely element to the tour, being a native Czech citizen. It was really cute to watch the two of them briefly debate a historical point before coming to consensus and moving on with the tour. The passion that William has for the Czech history and people is so evident, that it rings through his voice and shines in his eyes as he speaks. There were several moments throughout the day, when he became a bit choked up, such as when he spoke of the people demanding democracy, and the anger he felt over the theft of the democratization of the Czech Republic by dirty politicians, corrupt businessmen, and the mafia. The day just flew by and we learned so much more than we could possibly ever remember, so perhaps we will have to go back for the tour a second day. (Left - William, Dasha, Hovan and Christine on the river in Prague)

After spending such a wonderful day with William and Dasha we returned to our tent late that night to make a late supper. It is here that we will remember possibly the worst dinner of our trip. We had not been to a grocery store nearby, and unfortunately the gate to the campground was locked, so we couldn’t drive to a grocery store. After looking in our cooler we decided to walk to a nearby gas station to see if they had anything. In the end the only dinner worthy item was a package of bread sticks. So our evening meal consisted of two left-over hard boiled eggs, breadsticks that we tried to smear chunky peanut butter on, one piece of stale bread and a handful of pistachios. Let me tell you now that this does not make for a winning combination.

Our next day in Prague was also wonderful, as William gave us some sights to see around town, including the royal palace and cathedral. William and Dasha told us about some things to look out for, but I can tell you right now, that it lacked the pleasure of hearing William outline the finer points of the structures and the significant events dating back hundreds and hundreds of years. We also visited the site of Prague’s second defenestration. This is word I learned about a decade ago from Jonathan, who learned it from William, and it means to throw somebody out a window. Fortunately for the three men defenestrated, there was a huge dung heap at the bottom, also littered with refuse, and so they managed to survive, however this window tossing led to 30 Years War in Europe. (Left - the streets of Prague)

Before leaving Prague we stopped off to see William and Dasha one more time. William had offered to bring some things back to Canada for us to save us the shipping cost. While we were stopped for our visit, Dasha brought out a homemade pumpkin pie, made with real pumpkin. She knew that we would be away from our family for Thanksgiving, and she had made us a pie so that we had a taste of home on our journey. It was such a sweet gesture and it endeared them even more to us. She also had some other goodies and things for us to take on the road. After we left Prague we both agreed that we hope to meet up with William and Dasha someday in the future.

We left Prague with our next and final destination being Munich, from there we are planning to fly out to Moscow and start the second leg of our journey. Along the way, we decided to take the scenic route and not just fly down the highway. After enjoying the beautiful scenery of the Czech and German countryside, we decided to spend one night in a small town called Bodenmais, before heading to Munich the next morning. The problem was that we fell in love with this town, that is and isn’t touristy. The whole place is set up for a massive invasion of fellow Germans in the winter time for skiing in the Bavarian mountains and forests, so almost every other building is a hotel or hostel. We got an apartment for less than we have paid at some hostels on the trip. Looking up into the Bavarian forest and hills, we knew that we had to stop for one day and take in some hiking. From here on in, the next 3 weeks are mostly big cities, so we thought to catch some fresh air before pressing on. (Right - Hiking in the Bavarian Forest)

Today we spent a good deal of time climbing up a mountain. It was not a terribly difficult climb, but what was most impressive was the average age of our fellow climbers. There were a lot of people out in the forest, and most of them looked to be of retirement age. Many of them were dressed in the same get-up that we saw through Switzerland, but no where else. Pants below the knees and funky socks pulled up above the knees, with hiking poles, wool sweaters and so on. Christine and I felt out of place in our shorts and t-shirts. The day was beautiful and the mountain air crisp. Tomorrow morning we will make our final journey into Munich and then the next day fly out to Moscow. (Left - Typical walking attire in Germany)

I would like to leave you with one final piece of information. When driving a rental car through Europe there are apparently different ways to pay for your use of the highways. Most of the countries have tolls, but not all of them. Christine and I were quite fond of two countries, Switzerland and Slovenia, because they didn’t charge to use the road system. However, on our way into Austria we were pulled over by border security (for only the second time in 6 weeks and 11 countries). The man was asking for something and we couldn’t really understand his terrible English. Christine was driving and trying to use her pretty smile to get us moving, but nothing doing. He kept asking for something, so I went through the glovebox and pulled out folder and paper and any other sundry item I could think he might want. We gave him our passports, and he didn’t even look. We passed over our international drivers license, and he pushed them back, we offered him all the rental car documents and he didn’t even care to touch them. The only thing we had left in the glovebox was some candy, and I was prepared to offer that next in desperation, when another guard came over. He explained to us in better English that we had to purchase a sticker for the car to drive in Austria and showed us where to get it. Apparently they don’t set up toll roads, they just charge everyone a one time sticker price. Apparently we didn’t pick up our stickers in Switzerland and Slovenia, so I guess we’ll just have to owe them. Apparently the fines can be quite high, but the Austrians let us go with a warning – possibly because we looked pathetically out of our depth, possible because Christine was smiling for all she was worth, or maybe they were just in a generous mood. All in all, things worked out well once again.